Recently, mobile terminal devices, such as cellular telephones, have become increasingly smaller and thinner, and various structures for reduction in size and thickness in a display unit that includes a display module for displaying an image on a screen and an outer panel for covering the display module and in its vicinity have been discussed. Specifically, for example, a simple structure is proposed in which a support frame for supporting a display module and an outer panel is provided with a guide that projects in a direction perpendicular to the plane direction of the outer panel and the outer panel is fixed by that guide.
FIG. 5 illustrates a schematic cross-sectional view of a display unit of a mobile terminal device. As further illustrated in FIG. 5, a structure may be adopted in which a case, that forms a housing, supports a display module. In FIG. 5, a front case 10 and a frame member 20 form a housing of a mobile terminal device. The frame member 20 includes a support portion 20a for supporting components, such as a display module 40 and a substrate 50, at its tip within the housing. A liquid crystal panel 30 covering a display surface of the display module 40 is adhered to the frame member 20.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, components within the housing, such as the display module 40 and substrate 50, are supported by the support portion 20a at the tip of the frame member 20. This eliminates the necessity of a dedicated element to support the components, and thus the mobile terminal device may be thinner. Although not illustrated in FIG. 5, to address the loads of many components imposed on the support portion 20a, a lug extending from a side of the display module 40, which is relatively heavy, may be used to fix the display module 40 by engagement of the lug within the housing. In this case, the loads of the components on the support portion 20a may be lightened, and the frame member 20 may be prevented from being broken.
One example of a device that has a support structure capable of having a reduced overall thickness is described in Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2007-94408.
While the size and thickness in the overall device of a mobile terminal device have been reduced, a structure that has a maximum size of a display screen may have recently been adopted to offer high visibility of the display screen. That is, a housing that includes a display screen of a mobile terminal device may be required to reduce the area of a frame portion that surrounds the display screen, in other words, to narrow the frame portion.
However, for a structure that uses a lug, there is an issue in that narrowing a frame portion has a limit. That is, because a typical lug is bent when it is engaged during assembly of a device, a space for allowing the lug to be bent is needed in the vicinity thereof. Accordingly, when a display module of a mobile terminal device is engaged within a housing by a lug, a space for allowing the lug to be bent is provided in the vicinity of the lug. As a result, a frame portion that surrounds a display screen includes a section that corresponds to that space in which no components are arranged, and this section inhibits narrowing the frame portion.
A display module may be supported without the use of a lug. In this case, however, the load of the display module and the loads of other components are imposed on one portion, and this portion may be broken. That is, for the example illustrated in FIG. 5 described above, the support portion 20a of the frame member 20 may be broken. For a structure in which the frame member 20 does not have the support portion 20a, the loads of components, including the display module 40, are directly imposed on the liquid crystal panel 30, and the liquid crystal panel 30 may fall out of the frame member 20.